Ideas and discussions about economic and financial literacy issues.
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Monday, December 4, 2006

A Seasonal Entry

One of my favorite season web sites has been updated. PNC Bank's Christmas Price Index is up for 2006, showing an overall rise of 3% in the cost of the goods mentioned in The Twelve Days of Christmas. This is the 22nd year for this index and, like last year, PNC has provided a number of interesting things on the web site, including downloadable b-roll footage for newscasts, and a number of educator resources.

I think the site is worth investigating when discussing inflation, but also when discussing economic statistics and data. One of the questions students often face in economic competitions like The Fed Challenge is why some people would prefer one measure of inflation over another. The answer is in how the index is constructed. Different baselines and data can yield different results.

Blog Archive Note

All entries prior to August 15, 2007 appeared on the economic education blog of the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago. Entries between August 15, 2007 and July 31, 2009 were under the auspices of the Powell Center for Economic Literacy in Richmond, VA.